[UPDATED 3.47PM] MISSING BOEING 777: MAS KL-Beijing Flight MH370

Debris Spotted But Unsure If It Belongs To MH370 -Chinese Aviation Official

KUALA LUMPUR: Some debris has been reportedly spotted off the east coast of West Malaysia, but it is still unconfirmed if it belonged to the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight, according to a top Chinese aviation official.

Civil Aviation Administration of China director Li Jiaxiang said the sighting was made in an “area of longitude 103.29 degrees east and a latitude 6.42 degrees north.

â€œWith relevant technical measures, suspected debris has been seen in the area of longitude 103.29 degrees east and a latitude 6.42 degrees north. This is pending confirmation by the arrival of the search teams,â€ said Li in Beijing, according to news reports.

Li, however, that he was still awaiting confirmation from the search teams of the find.

“We are still unclear about the exact situation and position of the plane, and hold hope that the passengers are miraculously alive,” he said, according to a report by China News.

“It is also unclear at the moment if the plane was involved in a terrorist attack,” he added.

According to another report, the debris find were apparently consistent with photos supposedly taken by a Chinese passenger on board another MAS flight from Beijing which landed safely in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday morning.

The photos show what appears to be fragmented debris floating on waters about 90 minutes out to sea from KL.

There has been no significant clues to the condition of MH370, which has been missing for more than 30 hours since it disappeared from traffic control radar since Satuday 2.40am.

Yesterday, two large oil slicks spotted on Saturday by the Vietnamese air force.

The search and rescue efforts, involving the ships and aircrafts of several countries, continues.

Awani

DCA Confirms Only Two Passengers With ‘False Passports’

KUALA LUMPUR: The Department of Civil Aviation in a press conference at 1 pm on Sunday confirmed only two passengers on the passenger manifest list had â€˜false passportsâ€™, not four as reported earlier.

Director-General Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said they have closed-circuit television (CCTV) recordings of the two passengers from check in right up to departure point.

The recordings are being used in an investigation.

â€˜Possibility of air turn backâ€™

Meanwhile, Royal Malaysian Air Force chief Tan Sri Rozali Daud who was also at the media briefing addressed the possibility of flight MH370 making an â€˜air turn backâ€™.

â€˜We are baffled that we received no signal from the Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELT) or the emergency beacons. We re-looked at recordings on the radar and realised there is a possibility the plane made a turn,â€™

â€˜At this juncture, we are collaborating with other international agencies and civil radars,â€™ Rozali said, adding that because of this development, search and rescues has been widen into the South China Sea. Indonesia search and rescue team is also assisting in the mission.

When asked by reporters on the standard operating procedures (SOP) of an â€˜air turn backâ€™, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the plane should report to base and the air traffic control.

â€˜From what we know, air traffic control recording did not receive a distress signal. We are equally puzzled,â€™ said Ahmad Jauhari.

â€˜40 ships, 22 aircrafts deployed for search and rescueâ€™

Meanwhile, forty ships and 22 aircrafts are currently participating in the search and rescue efforts.

The search areas have been widened from the South China Sea to the Straits of Malacca and west coast of Penang.

“Forty ships are doing search and rescue operations in both areas. We have one helicopter from the Royal Malaysian Navy, 11 aircrafts from the Royal Malaysian Air Force, 5 aircrafts from Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (APMM) and one from the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM),” Army chief Gen Tan Sri Zulkifli Zainal Abidin briefed the media.

The United States and Royal Thai Air Force each deployed one aircraft, in addition to two Charlie C-130 deployed by Singapore.

“On the waters, we have 14 ships from Royal Malaysian Navy and 13 from APMM”.

13 more are from neighbouring countries (Indonesia- 5; Singapore- 3 ; China -3; Thailand -1, United States -1), in addition to search and rescue operations deployed by Vietnam in their waters.

Awani

Fate Of Missing Flight MH370 Remains A Mystery

KUALA LUMPUR: The fate of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 which went missing over the South China Sea when flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Saturday remains a mystery.

There were no reports of bad weather and no indication of why the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft vanished from radar screens at 1.30 am after leaving KL International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang at 12.41 am.

Aviation experts are puzzled as to how the aircraft could have vanished without any trace.

An aviation industry source said today that pilots were trained to make a Mayday call as soon as they encountered an emergency and the first priority would be given to the plane so that it can land safely.

“Something extreme and sudden could have happened on MH370 that impeded the pilots from making the Mayday call. This is because the Boeing 777-200ER is equipped with the Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) to declare an emergency,” he told Bernama on condition of anonymity.

However, he remained cautious, saying that the black box of the flight would shed light on the unanswered questions.

Although there is no sign of MH370’s disappearance, the aircraft has joined a number of mysterious plane incidents which remain unresolved until today.

The most notable recent case involved an Air France plane carrying 228 people from Brazil to France that vanished after flying into a severe storm over the Atlantic Ocean in 2009.

The Airbus A330 sent an automatic message four hours after it left Rio de Janeiro, reporting a short circuit. It then went missing in mid-ocean, beyond the scope of radar coverage. It was thought at the time to have been struck by lightning.

The wreckage was not found until two years later, along with 104 bodies. The bodies of 74 passengers remain unrecovered, according to Mirror Online, a United Kingdom-based media.

American explorer Amelia Earhart disappeared in July 1939, during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Popular theory has it that Earhart’s plane crashed into the ocean and was never found, according to a United Kingdom-based online daily, Mirror.

A British South American Airways (BSAA) plane, the Star Tiger, disappeared when flying from Santa Maria in the Azores to Bermuda on Jan 30, 1948.

Another BSAA plane, the Star Ariel, vanished during a flight from Bermuda to Jamaica on Jan 17, 1949.

A crash, if confirmed, would likely mark the US-built airliner’s deadliest incident since entering service 19 years ago. It would be the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 in less than a year.

An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200ER crash-landed in San Francisco in July 2013, killing three passengers and injuring more than 180.

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Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC and CEO of Portia Web Solutions. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websits. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.

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